December 4, 2002

C.U. Students Get Chance at Fame, Fortune

For most students, high-pressure situations encountered at Cornell include group projects, class presentations, job interviews or prelims. Most cannot imagine having to be under pressure in front of a live studio audience and countless viewers. However, for a select few Cornell students the latter scenario has become a reality when they were picked to participate in television game shows.

Big Winnings

Andrew Hutchings grad, operations research, has appeared on a variety of game shows, including Win Ben Stein’s Money and College Jeopardy where he won $25,000 and a Volvo S70. He makes his most recent appearance today and tomorrow on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Hutchings said that he tried out for the show at a call in Cleveland. “I had been watching it for a while and I thought I could do well at it,” he said. While Hutchings did not do anything particular to prepare for the show, he did keep his trivia skills sharp while in Ithaca.

“I’ve done trivia contests of various sorts for a while now,” he said. These contests include the Cornell Quiz Bowl and contests held at the Chapter House in Ithaca. Because of his previous experience with quiz shows, Hutchings said he felt little pressure on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.According to Hutchings, the best aspect of being on the show was the fun he had doing it. “It’s really fun getting all my friends and family to watch,” he said.

In his undergraduate years at Harvey Mudd College, fellow students gave Hutchings, an avid trivia game show watcher, a nickname because of his skills. “When I was a freshman, I had some upperclassman friends who thought I was a fount of random information,” he said. As a result, Hutchings is now known to friends and colleagues as “RIF”, or “random information freshman.”

The Price is Right

Daniel Levy ’03, also tried his luck on a game show when he and a group of twenty friends attended a taping of The Price is Right last year.

Levy said that he and his friends thought that by going in a large group, one of them would most likely be picked. When he was chosen to be on the show, Levy said, “it was pretty ridiculous running down there.” “I didn’t get the first item,” he said.

However he was later picked when he was the only contestant not to overbid on several air conditioners and a lifetime supply of Anbesol toothache medicine. Levy then played a dice game onstage called “Higher or Lower.” According to Levy, the prize for winning the higher or lower game was a car. While Levy didn’t win, he did get to keep his prizes from the initial bidding round.

“I got the air conditioners and a lifetime supply of anbesol,” he said. Levy was also able to try out for the showcase showdown at the end of the show, but didn’t make it.

“I rolled an 80 in the showcase showdown,” he said, “but someone rolled a 90.” Levy said that the best part of being on the show was “meeting Bob Barker.” Levy did not think he would be on any other game shows in the future.

“I could die a happy man now that I’ve been on *The Price is Right,” he said. While Levy was abroad during the March airing of the show, he did have his family send him a tape so he could watch it. “I’ve since showed it to many of my friends,” he said.

Mike Brody ’04, a recent contestant on The Weakest Link, tried out for the show after reading about a casting call on the Internet. “My buddy was surfing the website and he showed it to me,” he said.

Brody attended a tryout in New York City that involved taking a quiz. “If they like you they called you back and put you on camera,” he said.

After playing a simulated game, Brody was picked to be on the show, taped in November. “I’m still waiting to get a postcard from them telling me when I’m on,” he said.

According to Brody, he didn’t do anything in particular to prepare for the show. “It was suggested to me by everyone [to prepare],” he said. Brody said that the best thing about being on the show (which was a Fraternity and Sorority edition) was the people he met.

“My fellow contestants were also college kids, and I still keep in contact with some of them,” he said. Additionally, Brody said that a positive aspect of the show was that “they flew me out to Los Angeles, which was cool because I’d never been out there.”

According to Brody, it was interesting to see the way the show was put together behind the scenes. “You see that there’s so much going on behind the scenes,” he said. “They tape an hour and a half and they shorten it to twenty-two minutes.”

Brody said that given the chance, he would participate in another game show. “I’ll definitely do it again because they pamper you and you have a chance to win money.”

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Related

Yesterday, traffic was delayed on East Avenue for over an hour as motorists attempted to figure out the reason for the holdup. Later on, drivers discovered that a female Cornell student was hit by a vehicle causing police to block the road for the period of time. The accident occurred in the early evening, according to Linda Grace-Kobas, director of the Cornell News Service. The name of the pedestrian was not given, but Grace-Kobas said that the girl was conscious at the scene. Grace-Kobas said that the accident occurred at 7:13 p.m. on East Avenue. “There was an accident on East Avenue and a pedestrian was hit,” Grace-Kobas said. The female pedestrian was taken to Cayuga Medical Center after police arrived. According to Grace-Kobas, it appeared that the pedestrian’s injury was not life-threatening. The hospital was not able to comment on the accident or the pedestrian’s condition. Authorities were not able to give the name of the female student. “The student was conscious at the scene but it did not appear to be a life threatening injury,” Grace-Kobas said. “The pedestrian was taken to Cayuga Medical Center.” She said that the driver of the vehicle was a male Cornell student. Grace-Kobas believes that there may be criminal charges placed against the driver, although authorities were not able to comment on the accident or the possible accusations against the male student. The name of the driver was also not revealed. “We think there were charges against the driver,” Grace-Kobas said. According to Grace-Kobas, the accident occurred at the crosswalk between Rockefeller Hall and Goldwin Smith Hall. The investigation is being headed by the Ithaca Police Department (IPD) and assisted by the Cornell Police. Since this is a personal injury accident, the IPD has the authority to choose whether or not to handle the case, according to Grace-Kobas. “Ithaca police are handling the case but they are assisted by Cornell police,” she said. “[Ithaca police] decide whether or not to handle it.” Police placed roadblocks on East Avenue that halted traffic and public buses and vehicles were forced to take detours on other roads while the accident scene was cleared. Archived article by Brian Tsao

With the recent hires of two African-American therapists, Gannett: Cornell University Health Services now has a more diverse staff in the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) program. Dr. John Wright and Dr. Velma Williams both began working as CAPS clinicians. CAPS also has two Asian-American therapists, as well as a Latina therapist who is also an assistant director of the program as well as multiple therapists who are various sexual minorities. “Wright and [Williams] both bring expertise and experience in working with minority students and college students in general. Williams also specializes in eating disorders and both have a lot of experience with outreach, especially but not exclusively for minority students,” said Sharon Dittman, the associate director of community relations for Gannett. Dittman explained that these hirings were a part of “Gannett’s long-standing commitment to diversity.” Hiring a diverse staff is an important part of the public face of that commitment. “If people look in and see diversity on our staff, it is much more likely that they’ll see that this is an organization that values diversity,” she said. Some students see minority therapists as important for another reason. “An African-American therapist can identify with something that other people can’t, namely being black in a racially scarred country,” Kyessa Moore ’04 said. For one residential advisor (RA), that potential for understanding opens new doors. “I don’t think I’d be any more or less likely to recommend to people that they go to Gannett but I think it could be a bargaining point,” said Genger Charles ’04, an RA in Risley Residential College. Moore and Charles, however, both worried that the new hires are having little impact because minority students do not know about them. “The best way to get the word out would be over the minority listserves. It hasn’t been there, at least from what I’ve seen and I’m on two of them,” Moore said. Charles also voiced concern about how CAPS communicates with minorities. “I don’t think they specifically target minority communities,” Charles said. According to Dittman, however, CAPS and Gannett try very hard to work with underrepresented communities. “We try to be very visible but we’re not just about having credit. If we can work within networks of people on this campus, that’s good. There is a representative from Gannett on almost every possible diversity committee on this campus. Serving our diverse community is one of the number one top priorities at Gannett,” Dittman said.Archived article by Freda Ready